Monday, May 31, 2010

What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘brand’? The answer for the question would be something like adidas, puma, Apple, Chanel etc. But a brand can be anything, any product, any service or anything which has something substantial to show and make a brand identity for itself and eventually create a brand image in the consumers’ or the audience minds. It can be seen here that brand identity and brand image are two different concepts, the former is the way in which a company or a product portrays itself while the latter is how the consumers perceive it, but once they become the same, there comes a great brand.

Now there was an article long back in Times life saying there are six types of men: The dependable spaniels like Shahrukh khan, Glam studs like Salman khan, Charming foxes like Sanjay dutt, Macho tiger like Akshay kumar and John Abraham, Shy chipmunks like Sachin pilot and finally Skimpy Chickens like Rahul mahajan. All these personalities are brands in themselves because they have been consistent in portraying themselves in the similar manner across decades. Hence, the companies and the advertisers choose them for a particular type of product to show that the product is in par with the personality’s persona, be it the fair and handsome by SRK, Castrol by John or Thumbs up by Akshay kumar. If the above personalities loose the consistency they are sure to dilute their brand and the related products. Consumers buy those products relating to these personalities and trusting in them.

Can ordinary people like you and me be a BRAND! Of course, may be not famous like them but yes we can and we are. Just look around, your family, your friends, colleagues etc. their perception on you depends on the way you have been behaving or portraying yourself. If you have been consistent, you must be a strong brand by now!

The point to be stressed here is CONSISTENCY... the same is applied even to the products. A brand has to send its brand promise and keep reinforcing it again and again to get consumers attention, progress to become Share of mind and finally into top of mind recall. Let’s take an instance here; Radio Mirchi is the first private fm radio in India. Their positioning has been totally targeted towards the urban youth. The name, the tagline, the jockeys, the format of the station and even the promotional campaigns are in sync with the positioning. A research on the consumer perceptions shows that Mirchi is the no. 1 station in India with respect to listenership, Likability and entertainment. This station has never diluted its brand promise of giving ‘Hot’ entertainment to the youth; moreover it has adapted to the local flavor and yet kept its essence. This makes a great brand.